Dragon's Destiny
by metroanime
Summary: Were there better places to train than Jusenkyo?
1. Default Chapter

DRAGON'S DESTINY 1: Here's Ranma?  
a Ranma 1/2 fanfic by Gregg Sharp  
ranma 1/2 and related char (c) Takahashi Rumiko  
  
Asgard, Mimir's Well:  
  
"Hmph." Toltiir was in his black cat guise again. The Elder of mischief looked over at his companion with a smirk. "All right, I admit   
that causing Genma to send that letter two weeks earlier instead of a postcard from the port was a good use of a Gamma class intervention. You did three nudges that I'm sure of, though."  
  
"Whatever," Takahashi waved off the objection. "Did you think you could do better?"  
  
"Why don't we see, if we take this timeline here where Ranma dies at Ryoga's hands while the lost boy was using the koi rod. And then I change THIS."  
  
Energy flowed out from the cat, forming a stone out of metaphor, and made a minute change in the timestream.  
  
"Interesting choice." Takahashi smiled in anticipation.   
  
------  
  
"-Training ground guide, yes?-" Genma offered five of the little round coins to the street merchant.  
  
The street merchant in question looked Genma over and thought about what a disreputable person he had found today. Holding up three fingers he handed Genma a booklet. Genma gave three coins and the deal was done.  
  
"Hey pops, what you got there?"  
  
"Boy, this is a guide to the great martial arts sites in China. Look here's one called 'Jusenkyo.'" An errant breeze blew the page over, revealing a cavern. "Here's another one called the 'Cave of the Dragon's Fist' that looks good."  
  
"Great. That even sounds like someplace to learn secret techniques. Let's go."  
  
------  
  
The cave had been carved out in ancient times, but had an unfinished look. Genma walked to the center of the cave, Ranma wandering behind him as he looked over the area.  
  
"Man, this doesn't look special at all."  
  
"Quiet boy," Genma pointed to a plaque hanging in midair in the exact center of the cave. "What do you suppose this is?"  
  
Ranma looked it over. "Damn, it's written in Chinese. Why couldn't it be in Japanese?"  
  
Genma was about to reply that they WERE in China when he noticed the kanji reshaping and moving around.   
  
Ranma swallowed as he watched the lettering finish moving. The sign was now in Japanese. "Uhm, neat trick."  
  
"Frivolous wishes are cause for immediate termination of wisher." Genma read the first line and sweated slightly. Frivolous by WHOSE standards?   
  
"So, I guess using this for getting a decent meal would be out of the question." Ranma shrugged and wandered off to check the cave out a bit. Only the area with the sign was lit, and that as if with a spotlight from above. Though there was no apparent source for the light.  
  
Genma bit back the first thing he had thought of. "Ranma, did I ever tell you about the promise we made your mother when we left for this training journey?"  
  
"Huh? What promise?"  
  
Genma explained that Ranma had to be a "man among men" when rejoining his mother, or both father and son would have to commit seppuku.  
  
"Is that why I've been carrying that tanto all this time?!?" Ranma was shocked and had backed up against the wall, noticing that there were bones rolled up against the walls. "Uh oh."  
  
Genma blanched. Where did THOSE come from? Pieces of skeletons shoved up against the far confines of the wall in all directions except the path from the door. He could have sworn they weren't there a minute ago. Had they suddenly appeared, the cave underscoring the consequences of making light of its magic.  
  
"I wish that Ranma were truly a man among men, a paragon, uhm, with powers and abilities far beyond mortal man, uh, so incredibly heroic that his mother couldn't possibly doubt that he was a man among men, uh or something like that." Genma sweated. He hadn't intended to say anything of the sort, but he'd gotten unnerved by the sight of all those bones.  
  
"Oyaji! What are you....arrrrrggggghhhh!" Ranma dropped, twisting in pain as an emerald glow washed over him.  
  
"GRANTED," came a voice echoing from all over the cave. "An interesting choice, as I see a use for a True Hero in these times." The voice was impossibly deep and had a growling, raspy quality to it. It also spoke flawless Japanese, which impressed Genma even more than the magical glow.  
  
"Father," came a deep voice. Genma turned back to Ranma after failing to find the source of the voice. Ranma stood again, but Genma might not have recognized him if he hadn't known he was there.  
  
Ranma stood taller now, and his frame had also filled out with a tight musculature. His hair was a bit lighter in color, and now reached his mid-back. The muscles were tightly packed but without the bulk of the professional weightlifter.  
  
"Ranma?"  
  
"Yes, father." Ranma appeared thoughtful. "Shall we go?"  
  
"Uh, yeah, I guess so." Genma didn't want to consider what might occur if he tried wishing again.   
  
Shuddering, Genma moved to catch up with his transformed son, hoping that there wasn't a hidden pricetag that would catch up with him later.  
  
------  
  
"Excuse me," Takahashi said from her chair. "What exactly was THAT about?"  
  
"The contract?"  
  
"No, the wish." Takahashi materialized a cup of Earl Grey, hot. "You wouldn't be manipulating the father in front of Shen Long, would you?"  
  
"Who, me? You must have confused me with someone else." Toltiir blinked and looked smug in the manner that cats have been perfecting for generations.  
  
"Play fast and loose with the rules, Puck, oh no. Certainly not you. I must have been mistaken."  
  
-----------  
  
"So this is Jusenkyo," Ranma looked about at the pools of water covering this section of the valley. "Interesting."  
  
Genma glanced over at his son, he was somewhat unnerved by the changes he'd detected in his son as well as what his son could do now. "C'mon, Ranma, follow me!"  
  
Ranma shrugged. "Actually, I don't think this is such a good idea."  
  
Genma's leap took him to the top of one of the bamboo poles. Ranma landed a split instant later on one of the others.   
  
Ranma looked at the various springs. "I REALLY don't think this is such a good idea."  
  
"Ranma, concentrate on the fight!"  
  
Ranma glanced back, his father had already leapt and would strike him in two point three seven seconds. Plenty of time.  
  
Ranma struck out, slapping his father and diverting the heavier man on a completely different trajectory.  
  
Genma impacted the waters of one of the pools.  
  
"Oh no, sirs, what you do here! It very dangerous, no one train here anymore!"  
  
Ranma spared a glance at the newcomer. "See, father, I told you this didn't look like a good idea."   
  
The panda who slowly crawled out of the pool couldn't help but agree.  
  
-----  
  
"This, sirs, is Amazon Village."  
  
"You can knock off the pidgin," Ranma smirked. "I saw some of the books in your little hut there."  
  
"Sorry, sirs, not speak Japanese that well."  
  
Ranma shrugged and turned his attention back to the fight, pausing only to slap his father away from the prize table. "Pops, you don't want to do that. See, it says 'First Prize' on it."  
  
"Sir, you read Chinese?"  
  
"I'm not fluent, but I read through one of your Japanese-Chinese dictionaries while you were trying to make dinner yesterday." Ranma noted idly the weaknesses and strengths of both fighters on the log. The pretty girl was obviously the more skilled, though her weapons looked pretty silly. The other woman was wielding a tetsubo one-handed.  
  
Taking three point seven seconds longer than Ranma had estimated, the prettier girl finally knocked the heavier one off the log.  
  
The winner turned, looked towards her prize and quite nearly fell off her log. She said something too fast for Ranma to follow and charged towards him.  
  
Dodging, Ranma tried to smile and be reasonable. "-I sorry. Not speak Chinese very goodly. Please slowly speak.-"  
  
Shampoo (you knew it was her, right?) didn't look impressed. "-Stranger male, I challenge you!-"  
  
Ranma noted that she had looked him up and down and licked her lips. They weren't cannibals here, were they?  
  
Suddenly another girl stepped forward. Again more of this odd Mandarin dialect spoken too quickly for Ranma to follow. He looked towards the Guide.  
  
"She challenge her for right to challenge you."  
  
"Damn, they must really hate visitors." Ranma didn't notice the Guide facefault. A third girl had apparently challenged the second girl, quickly followed by a fourth girl screaming something that sounded extremely unflattering at the third Amazon.  
  
Only a few more moments of this, then someone shoved someone else and that sparked it. Ranma, Guide, and panda fled as a free-for-all developed.  
  
Over it all could be heard the little old woman judge standing on her stick and yelling for the entire group to act like Amazons and get their hormones under control.  
  
Cologne watched the three fleeing figures. Good riddance. The village had enough troubles without anyone fighting over a mere male. Mind you, if she'd been three centuries younger...  
  
Shaking her head at the odd fancy, Cologne set her attention back to the riot at hand. She idly noted that her great-granddaughter was missing from the crowd.  
  
----  
  
"That must be them!" Nabiki ran for the door. They couldn't possibly be rich, but she had spent too much time pondering her loneliness to not want SOMETHING to fill the void in her heart. Maybe if he was cute...   
  
She opened the door, saw a huge panda and almost turned and bolted back into the house. Then her eyes caught a glimpse of the boy standing there.  
  
Her hand reached back and closed the door behind her, incidently shutting it in her father's face.  
  
"Hi there," she said, realizing a moment later that it had come out in a squeak. "I'm home, welcome to our Nabiki..." Something didn't sound right about that but she was feeling thoroughly out of sorts and couldn't spare the time to analyze what was wrong.  
  
"Uhm. Hello. My name is Ranma Saotome."  
  
Nabiki was shaking, sweating, and would have been drooling if her mouth hadn't suddenly gone all dry. The voice was perfect, a deep silken smooth sort of voice that could have been used for radio commercials. She'd be his agent, with a voice and looks like that, he'd make her rich. She could have a boyfriend like this, AND be filthy obscenely rich. "Excuse me a moment."  
  
Running around the corner she thanked her ancestors, kami, and any deities/angels/spirits that she could think of. "YES!"  
  
Running back to the door, Nabiki noted her father had come out of the house.  
  
"Well, come in now. I want you to meet my other two daughters."  
  
Nabiki panicked. *No, no, no. MINE!* She ran in after the group. "Oh, Daddy? uhm. DIBS!"  
  
Ranma looked a little puzzled. What was going on? They were just visiting his father's friend's house, weren't they? He was still puzzled by the reactions he was getting from women, he was still himself wasn't he? A few physical changes since the Cave, but he hadn't changed that much, had he? He didn't FEEL different.   
  
Kasumi watched as her father entered, followed by a huge panda. "Well, father, you certainly have interesting friends.....?!?" A boy had just entered the room. Why was it getting so warm all of a sudden?  
  
Akane's glare vanished as if someone had thrown a switch. Her mouth refused to work as she gazed up into those crystalline blue eyes.  
  
"Y-y-y-you wouldn't be...." Kasumi managed after a false start. It wasn't polite to stare but she just couldn't help it. He was breathtakingly gorgeous, beyond idol singer levels of cute, with an air of confidence and quiet strength that seemed to make something melt within her. And he was just so... manly!  
  
Akane nodded. He couldn't be. This would just have been too good to be true.  
  
Nabiki stood behind the group, trying to get her father's attention. "Uhm, Daddy, like I said. Dibs!"  
  
"I'm Ranma Saotome," he said with a bow, showing respect to the still sitting girls. "Sorry to trouble you."  
  
"Oh my," Kasumi realized that she really should be a better hostess, that she should offer them some tea or something, but she didn't think her knees would support her at the moment. She'd completely forgotten that the other visitor was a panda.  
  
Akane nodded again, still trying to get her mouth working. She was so afraid that she would say something wrong, the idea of those eyes filled with hurt was not something she thought she could face.  
  
"Well then, these are my three daughters. There's Kasumi, she's 19..."  
  
"Yes," breathed Kasumi, her eyes glazed over as she went off into a private fantasy somewhere.  
  
"Ah." Soun seemed a little put off, what was going on here? This guy looked more like a model or actor than a real martial artist, but Kasumi was all flushed. She couldn't be sick, could she? "You've already met Nabiki, she's 17."  
  
"DIBS, I said DIBS! I saw him first!"  
  
"Uhm, right." Soun glanced at Nabiki but decided to ignore what he didn't understand. "Then there's Akane, she's 16."  
  
"Me?!? I couldn't, I wouldn't...Well, if you insist. Okay."  
  
Soun looked at Akane as if she'd grown a second head. All her complaints had stopped and she had turned the same color as that Ferrari on that gaijin TV show about a Hawaiian private eye. Maybe Kasumi's illness was contagious?  
  
"Pick anyone you like, she'll be your new fiancee," Soun smiled. Maybe they liked him, this would be easier than he'd thought!  
  
"Excuse me, did you say fiancee?" Ranma looked at the panda with some displeasure.  
  
A sign appeared in the panda's paw. [Oh, didn't I mention that?]  
  
"Just a moment, please." Ranma sighed deeply. The girls were all lost for a moment in the contemplation of how his pectorals and those broad shoulders moved. "Do you have any hot water?"  
  
"Of course!" Kasumi tried to get up, finally scrambling and half falling as she moved towards the kitchen. "Justamoment. Don'tdoanything until Igetback!"  
  
Soun Tendo watched as his eldest nearly tripped on the way to the kitchen. "Maybe we ought to hold off on this, I think my daughters may have caught a cold or something." Concern for his daughters briefly overwhelmed his obsession to unite the families.  
  
"No, no, no, no, no. Daddy, I clearly called dibs on this one."  
  
"Nabiki," Akane finally got her mouth working. She was NOT giving up this easily. "That's not fair!"   
  
"Life seldom is, sis. Besides, you snooze, you lose." Yen signs began to appear before Nabiki. With someone like this, she'd be able to make even more money than SHE could spend. The thought of all those stuck up girls with their boyfriends being envious of HER formed a private little fantasy that had her grinning.  
  
"Daddy, it's not fair. Besides, it's for the dojo, right? So the best martial artist in the family ought to be the one to marry Ranma, right?" She turned her best smile on Ranma. "Right, Ranma?"  
  
Kasumi stuck her head out of the kitchen. "As the eldest, shouldn't it be MY responsibility to meet the family honor?"  
  
"Well, I..." Soun looked around. They weren't sick? This was...  
  
Kasumi rushed in, bringing Ranma a kettle. She blushed and her knees nearly buckled as her fingers brushed Ranma's as he reached out to take the kettle.  
  
Pouring a little of the hot water on the panda, Soun noted that it had turned into his old friend Genma Saotome. Ranma prepared to explain about Jusenkyo when it became apparent that none of the three daughters had noticed the transformation.  
  
Ranma checked his shirt. No stains, he couldn't see anything out of place. He blushed at the attention, not realizing how cute it made him look.  
  
"Sugoiiiiii," Akane breathed. Her sisters nodded.  
  
"Uhm, Pop. Do you want to explain about this engagement thing?" Ranma smiled at the three girls. They didn't look as upset with this arrangement as he was, maybe they'd had time to get used to it?   
  
Kasumi nearly fainted. Nabiki sighed and absently wiped drool from her mouth. Akane smiled back and seemed to be quivering.  
  
"Uh, maybe we should go somewhere quiet and discuss this."  
  
Genma looked at the three girls and was puzzled as well. His son looked like such a wimp, though he knew better, why did Soun's daughters act so strangely towards him? "I think that's an excellent idea, son."  
  
The three girls in question, of course, had other ideas.  
  
-----  
  
Blocks away, a purple haired girl got directions from a street vendor who couldn't help but remember the boy she described. "Ranma, I find you SOON!"  
  
-------  
  
Well, this is the first chapter of Dragon's Destiny,  
which is intended as an "altered-destiny" story   
companion to the "Neutral Ground" tale. Just posting  
this chapter to gauge reaction while working on  
finishing "The Art."   
  
Next chapter: Ranma goes to Furinkan. Kuno fights Ranma.  
Shampoo gets directions. Nabiki makes money. The   
timeline gets further divergent.  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

DRAGON'S DESTINY 2: School Is No Place For Horsing Around  
  
a Ranma 1/2 Altered Destiny fanfic by Gregg Sharp  
  
i don't own these characters, that doesn't keep me from having fun with them.  
  
  
Thanks to Doug Ingebretsen for sending these my way.  
  
Dragon's Destiny 2   
  
  
=================  
  
Ranma was running to school, not because he might be late, but because he simply enjoyed the exercise. Atop a chainlink fence, flipping to the roof of a building, then leaping in a manner that looked almost as if he were on the verge of flight.  
  
Akane and Nabiki were grateful that he didn't know the way. If he hadn't kept coming back to them, they would never have been able to keep up with him.  
  
As Nabiki tried to catch her breath near the schoolyard, she thought back to the conversation the previous evening.  
  
-FLASHBACK--------------  
  
Soun lit a cigarette, which disappeared from his mouth a moment later.  
  
"You really shouldn't, Mister Tendo." Ranma shook his head. "Life is so fleeting anyway without you hurrying to join your wife. Patience is easy for those passing beyond the Veil. She will wait."  
  
Soun glared at Ranma but didn't press it. "So, Saotome, what of this overgrown boy scout you've brought me? And, for that matter, why were you a panda?"  
  
Genma explained that he turned into a panda through a curse picked up at a training ground called Jusenkyo. Ranma, however, had been altered through a wish.  
  
"I wished that he would be a 'man among men' and what did I get? I got a wimp..."  
  
Kasumi reached over to delicately slap Genma in the back of the head, but Akane had already gotten up and slammed the elder Saotome with the dining room table. Nabiki smiled at Ranma, hoping that the old fool hadn't hurt his feelings.  
  
"Actually, pop," Ranma corrected, "what you said was 'I wish that Ranma were truly a man among men, a paragon, uhm, with powers and abilities far beyond mortal man, uh, so incredibly heroic that his mother couldn't possibly doubt that he was a man among men, uh or something like that.' Exactly."  
  
Soun looked at Ranma with some surprise. The boy had gotten his father's voice and inflections down perfectly.  
  
Nabiki grinned. With a talent like that he could be a voice actor/idol singer. Money, fame, power, with his agent/wife there to arrange it all. That meant merchandising was also possible! Yen signs floated through Nabiki's happy little fantasy.  
  
Akane glared at Genma, warning him not to call HER Ranma a wimp again.  
  
"So what exactly does that mean? This wish did exactly what?"  
  
"Beyond the physical transformation, I seem to pick up new languages easily, I'm faster and stronger than I used to be, and then there's this." With a slight hesitation and glance towards the girls, Ranma removed his shirt.  
  
"Yeah, baby, take it off!"  
  
"KASUMI!" Akane looked in shock at her sister.  
  
"Oh," said Kasumi, turning an interesting shade of scarlet, "my. Did _I_ say that aloud?"  
  
Nabiki licked her lips as she contemplated the tight hard muscles under smooth golden skin. The way his dragon tattoo (obviously an expensive one) coiled its way up his body seeming to accentuate as it rode between the various muscle groups. She wondered what that tattoo would taste like.  
  
"You got a tattoo?" Soun didn't understand the fuss. He'd gotten a small one himself years ago...  
  
"Take a better look, Mister Tendo." Ranma thumbed the coil of dragon that passed over his heart. There was a faint color change as if jeweled scales had shifted slightly in the light. "There's no needle   
marks, and it seems to move some whenever I raise chi or pull off something really difficult."  
  
Ranma shrugged his shirt back on, bringing a chorus of protests from the Tendo sisters.  
  
"Excuse me, son, raise chi?" Soun wasn't sure he'd heard right.  
  
Ranma held out his hand. A glowing sphere appeared directly over his palm. "Like this."  
  
Soun nodded and wondered what definition of 'wimp' Genma was applying here. "I see. Well then, your troubles aren't so bad. So which of my daughters will you marry?"  
  
"I'm sorry, Mister Tendo, would you mind explaining this engagement thing to me?"  
  
Soun went over the deal made while both fathers were trying out a new bar they had found called "Callahan's." Strange how they'd never found it again. The deal being that the son of Clan Saotome marrying one of Soun Tendo's daughters to carry on the legacy and the dojo.  
  
"I see, so as a matter of honor, I must accept. However, would it not be more wise on this to wait until such time as it can be determined which of the young ladies would be happiest with such a deal?" Ranma shrugged. "After all, they might have other plans."  
  
"Nononononono. Marriage is fine." Nabiki smiled, stood up, and would have moved to Ranma's side except for Akane grabbing Nabiki's ankle.  
  
"Excuse me, dear sister, but since it involves the dojo, shouldn't the best fighter be the one to marry Ranma? We can spar for it."  
  
Kasumi bypassed the two other sisters and happily moved alongside Ranma. Blushing delicately, and seeming to find her own feet fascinating, she reached out for Ranma's hand. "I do."  
  
"KASUMI!" Akane and Nabiki were up in a moment to glare at their sister. How dare she when she already had Dr Tofu?  
  
"Kasumi, Doctor Tofu loves you," Akane tried. "I gave up on him for your happiness."  
  
Kasumi blinked. "Doctor who?"  
  
-------------  
  
Somewhere in Juuban, a man with an extremely long scarf sneezed and wondered where he'd put the key to his 'police call box'.  
  
-END FLASHBACK------------  
The school was at last coming into view.  
  
"Ranma, stay clear of this. It's my fight and I don't want you to get hurt." Akane smiled up at Ranma. "Please."  
  
"Oh, Ranma, let ME escort you to your class."  
  
The three came to a stop, Nabiki with Ranma as Akane went a little further to meet the crowd of boys that were attacking.  
  
Suddenly the doors burst open to Furinkan High. Within moments the male part of the crowd present had become trampled underneath what appeared to be the entire female population of the high school.  
  
"It's an idol singer!"  
  
"It's an actor!"  
  
"Oh, he's sooooooo cute."  
  
"Kumiko, what about your boyfriend Sanjuro?"  
  
"Who? Oh, him."  
  
---------------------  
  
The goddess turned to the cat. "Okay, Toltiir, explain this, exactly what the heck did the wish do that has THIS sort of effect?"  
  
"Turn your attention to the line that goes:'so incredibly heroic that his mother couldn't possibly doubt that he was a man among men'- in this case it means that he is perceived as immediately good and noble and all those other paragon/manly virtues by those who  
happen to see him. Whatever virtues the viewer seeks, he is seen to have."  
  
"Hmmm. That also explains why he's so clueless about it himself, since being clueless about such things is a male quality."  
  
Cats don't normally shrug. Toltiir did. "What can I say? He's still Ranma."  
  
------  
  
Kuno stepped forward, the crowd of women ignoring him as they paid attention to whatever was at their center. He couldn't see what was going on, and with all the girls talking amongst themselves, he  
couldn't hear what was being said either.  
  
"Akane Tendo? Akane? Whither my proud tigress?" Finally Kuno caught a glimpse of her and moved decisively. She would be his.  
  
-------  
  
*GLOMP!*  
  
Akane stiffened as she realized that she'd left herself defenseless.  
  
"See, Ranma?" Nabiki made SURE that Ranma saw this. "Akane already has a boyfriend, so she CAN'T be your fiancee." Taking his arm, she quickly hustled Ranma into the school, explaining that they did NOT  
want to be late for their first day of class.  
  
Akane twitched slightly, still caught firmly in Kuno's grasp, a feeling of disbelief and betrayal sweeping over her.  
  
"Kuno..." Akane's voice had a quiet tone to it.   
  
The crowd filtered into the school, leaving piles of crushed boys lying around with Kuno still holding Akane in the center. An errant breeze blew leaves in a brief swirl then away.  
  
"Ah, Akane, my love. You have allowed me to capture you, showing that you return my affection. Come, my fierce falcon, let me bind your heart to my...urk!"  
  
There was a snapping sound as Akane held Kuno's hand in one of her own. A closer examination would reveal that Akane's hand was rapidly approaching the closed position.  
  
"My sister...my own sister...No. THIS IS YOUR FAULT! DIE, KUNO!" *SMASH* "BAKA BAKA BAKA" *CRUNCH* "YOU OAF, YOU SIMPLETON!" *Suplex* "YOU POSTURING EMPTY-HEADED MANIAC!" *Airplane spin* "YOU LOWGRADE MORON!" *Mongolian piledriver* "YOU PUSTULE ON THE BUTTOCKS OF THE UNIVERSE!" *Flying haymaker* "YOU... Kuno? Where'd he go? Grrrrr." Akane reconsidered, maybe it wasn't too late. They might share a class,  
and she'd still have a chance with him. Maybe after she cooked something for him, proving that she could do the feminine stuff too.  
  
Nabiki reached over and gently closed Ranma's mouth as they watched Akane leave the battleground and run into the school. "Well, Ranma, I've got to get to my own class, but I think you've seen why I am a clearly superior choice here. See you at lunch, big boy."  
  
Ranma nodded absently. He watched Kuno land finally, having spent considerable air time since Akane's last attack. He really was impressed by her martial arts skills. Hmmm, it DID make his decision a  
little easier, though. Nabiki or Kasumi.  
  
For that matter, maybe he'd just caught Akane on a bad day.  
  
He could read Kuno's lips. "...she must love me well to reject me thus." Ranma shook his head, that guy really could use counseling.  
  
----  
  
The teacher looked a little flustered. The class looked awed. Ranma looked bored.  
  
So far the teacher had been playing "stump the newbie" and hadn't gotten anywhere. Most teachers would find such a thing a pleasant change from the usual pace.  
  
Most teachers wouldn't be working at Furinkan Senior High School. Most teachers knew better.   
  
The junior or senior class always pulled SOMETHING. This group had the interesting variation on the "forbidden fruit" theme: Akane Tendo (voted most likely to be relegated male roles in the Drama Club for life) had to be defeated in combat to be dated. From having NO boys trying to date her, she'd suddenly become very popular indeed.  
  
Most people assumed that Tatewaki Kuno was solely responsible. Most of the staff knew that to pull something like this off, and to be continually profitting from it, was the work of someone else entirely. Mr Kawasaki was just glad that Nabiki Tendo was NOT in his class.  
  
Hmmph. And the LAST group had merely done pranks like rebuilding Mr Honda's Toyota inside the kitchen. Of course, the pizza STILL tasted like motor oil.  
  
Now this. Mr Kawasaki wondered how the boy was cheating. He was about to reprimand the boy when a sound like a distant explosion rattled the windows.  
  
Ranma was fully awake now.  
  
Another explosion, louder this time.   
  
"Damn," Hiroshi had taken the opportunity to look out the window. "Something blew up on the first floor."  
  
"Cool," partner in crime Daisuke immediately chimed in.  
  
Someone ran past in the hallway. There was an explosion at the far end a moment later.  
  
"Could it be a terrorist?" Yuka backed away from the door, having seen "Die Hard" just the other day.  
  
A door slid open and a purple haired girl stuck her head in. "Ni hao? AIYAAAA! Shampoo find right room AT LAST!" Door closed.  
  
Door bursts open as Shampoo makes entrance.   
  
"YOU!" Shampoo assumed a martial arts stance. "Ranma no respond Shampoo's challenge!"  
  
"You're that girl from the Amazon Village? How do you know my name?"  
  
"Got it from girl at port. She remember you, EVERYONE remember you." Shampoo pointed at Ranma, doing a fair sentai stance. "You RUN but you no hide from Shampoo."  
  
"Okay," Ranma sighed, getting up from his desk. "Let's get this over with."  
  
"No you don't," Akane jumped from her desk, moving to get in between Ranma and Shampoo. A brief fantasy played in her head. Yes, the Evil Outsider Bimbo (looking suspiciously like an SD Shampoo with   
devil horns) threatened the Handsome Prince (suspiciously had a ponytail like Ranma's), when the Valiant Knight (insert SD Akane) knocks the Bimbo out of the way. Confetti drifts down as the Handsome Prince and his Valiant Defender kiss.  
  
Unfortunately, the fantasy ended at that point when Shampoo hit a set of pressure points and walked over Akane as she hit the floor.  
  
"NO!" Another entered the room, posing as he did so. "It is MY fight with Ranma Saotome this day."  
  
Everyone looked at Shampoo, then over to Kuno.   
  
"You wait your turn, is MY fight with Ranma."  
  
"The Blue Thunder of Furinken High will not delay the punishment of this newcomer!" Kuno got his first good look at this "Ranma" fellow. Why, he was the spitting image of a young Miyamoto Musashi! He carried himself like Ieyasu himself might have. No doubt of noble samurai blood himself, and therefore a worthy opponent.  
  
"Shampoo have first dibs on fight with Ranma!"  
  
"Oh, and who are you to challenge the great Tatewaki Kuno?"  
  
"Shampoo no challenge stick-boy. Shampoo challenge Ranma!"  
  
"Why do you want to challenge Ranma, anyway?" Nabiki strode in. "He's MY fiancee."  
  
"What?!" Shampoo absently punched Kuno through a wall, ending THAT distraction. She noted that the girl she was standing on was beginning to come to.   
  
"He hasn't chosen you yet, Nabiki." Akane felt realized that someone was standing on her. "Would you GET OFF ME!"  
  
"It no matter, Shampoo challenge Ranma many many days ago. Now we fight!" The bonbori were pulled out.  
  
"It doesn't matter. I don't hit girls." Ranma sighed, flipping his ponytail back. Two girls in the back of the class swooned. Ranma noted this and wondered if Kasumi's illness was passing through the entire school.  
  
"Then Shampoo make Ranma fight her." Shampoo lunged towards Nabiki, bonbori swinging up to strike.  
  
Ranma kicked out, breaking the handle of the bonbori. It arced up then slammed down on Shampoo's head. Shampoo went down.  
  
"Oh, Ranma," Nabiki said, pressing tightly against her fiance. "You've saved me." She idly fingered the front of his shirt with one hand while using her other arm to anchor herself to one of his arms. "Why, however can I repay you?"  
  
"Na-bi-ki." Akane got up and glared at her sister. "He's still got almost a month before he chooses who he's going to marry."  
  
Nabiki's eyes widened as she heard the muttering from the various girls. Even she wouldn't be able to ride damage control on this. Within hours it would be all over the school.  
  
Shampoo got up, recovering quickly. She moved to glomp position. Glomp achieved. "Wo da airen."   
  
Ranma's eyes bugged out. He couldn't have heard right, could he?   
  
-------  
  
Ryouga entered the cave and saw the tablet floating in air. "So this is where Ranma was last seen?"   
  
It didn't seem fair that his old rival had come here to China only to pass away in some remote cave, without ever having to face the fists of justice of Ryouga Hibiki.  
  
The tablet grabbed his attention. "What's a frivolous wish?" Something grabbed his attention. In a wide cave like this there should be some echoes. Why weren't there echoes? What was keeping the tablet  
suspended?  
  
"Probably something like wishing Village Elder would stop snoring," the little girl who was his guide shrugged. "It powerful magic, you no disturb dragon spirit without good reason. You do, poof, no more you."   
  
"Well, don't worry, you don't have to go back to THAT village. We'll find a place for you." Ryouga remembered finding the little runaway. "I certainly seem to find enough odd villages."  
  
"Dragon spirit say Ranma alive, but changed by magic of cave. He much stronger now."  
  
"Yeah, right." Ryouga thought it odd, the little girl claimed that spirits talked to her, and this is why she was beaten so often in her home. Anything went wrong, she was always the target of choice.   
Superstitious nonsense.  
  
"He now have fragment of dragon spirit within him. Have dragon's chi, dragon's blood." Mao Yin knew Ryouga didn't take her gift seriously, but he was the first to show her actual kindness in some time, so stuck with him.  
  
"Well, if it granted wishes, and it made Ranma stronger, then I'd just wish that I had an even HIGHER power level than Ranma!"  
  
"This is fate," came an impossibly deep growling voice within the cave. "So be it. GRANTED!"  
  
Ryouga screamed as the Change took place.  
  
===================  
  
Later,  
gregg 


	3. Battle Of Light And Dark

DRAGON'S DESTINY 3: Battle Of Light & Dark  
  
a Ranma 1/2 Altered Destiny fanfic by Gregg Sharp i don't own these characters, that doesn't keep me from having fun with them.  
  
note: this was written quite a while ago, and i'm just trying to smooth it out a bit for the fanfiction.net site.   
  
-------------------  
  
A week passed.  
  
The battle between Kuno and Ranma had occurred, with Ranma grabbing a bokken and dueling Kuno "as befits a true samurai." Just from making that statement during the match, Tatewaki Kuno would have been more favorably aligned with Ranma. As it was, it went from formal duel to polite sparring match within a week. Nabiki was giving odds that within a month it would be down to friendly sparring, especially as it was quite apparent that Akane was considered *very* unlikely to be the one to end up marrying Ranma.  
  
Shampoo explained the customs of the Amazons, while Ranma said that things were different in Japan. Yuka and Sayuri, at Ranma's insistence, had told Shampoo about the courtship conventions in Japan.  
  
Shampoo was now attending school, and as she required extensive tutoring, had turned to Ranma for this. Who better than her husband, after all? This did NOT sit well with any number of others, resulting in Ranma teaching classes (oddly enough composed entirely of girls) after hours in school.  
  
Ranma's twice a day sparring also drew crowds, with the predictable result. In another week he would be teaching another class- this in the martial arts.   
  
His mornings were sparring matches with his father, and occasionally Akane, followed usually by Tatewaki Kuno's challenge at the school.  
  
Genma sent a letter to Nodoka Saotome, wanting to get that sword hanging over him out of the way as soon as possible. Nabiki hid the letter until she felt she had jockeyed to the best position, when she would mail it. Kasumi found the letter and mailed it, without  
once thinking that it had been hidden on purpose.  
  
Akane tried to cook for Ranma. Ranma, being a true man among men, complimented her on the "interesting flavor" before he passed out. Dr Tofu and his stomach pump arrived shortly thereafter. Akane's reaction to Nabiki's suggestion that Akane had just killed Nabiki's  
fiance was quite predictable. Akane went to her room crying and Nabiki wore an ice pack.  
  
Kasumi insisted on playing nurse to Ranma after that incident, though he drew the line at the sponge bath. The next morning, he insisted he was fine, though Kasumi and Nabiki expressed numerous doubts about this. Shampoo showed up at some time during this and proceeded to vow vengeance against "vile poisoners who do this to airen!" Obviously she'd spent too much time watching Ranma fight Kuno and listening to the latter's speeches.   
  
All in all, a relatively peaceful week.   
  
Relatively, that is.  
  
--------------------  
  
"Ranma, prepare to die!"  
  
"Excuse please," Mao Yin said, as polite as always. "What for you attack tree?"  
  
"Oh, sorry, heheh." Ryouga looked embarrassed and rubbed the back of his head. "I was just thinking about Ranma and the hell he's put me through."  
  
"Oh, so knowing me has been HELL?" There were limits to everything, including the spiritualist's patience. "You want find your way to Japan on your own?"  
  
Mao Yin stalked off, waiting to hear Ryouga apologize. She didn't like yelling at him, but hearing him go on and on about how he blamed this Ranma for all his problems...  
  
Silence. She turned around and said one of the phrases that had been used on her when she was being beaten for being a witch. There was no sign of Ryouga.  
  
"Stupid Ryouga. He go look for Ranma in, Tokyo, I think he say. I go Tokyo. He no get off that easy."   
  
Mao Yin had been born with an unlucky mark - a streak of white hair that ran from forehead to just above the ear. She'd also always been able to see and speak with spirits. She'd grown up in a small village near Tibet's border, and had been miserable there.  
  
When Ryouga had rescued her, she'd been overjoyed at first. Here was a handsome prince riding on his horse to her rescue. Well, actually he'd been walking. Unfortunately, he was also a bit slow upstairs, but she was sure he had a good heart. He'd kept her from being beaten by the local bullies, and he'd taken her with him. (Well, actually she'd followed him while he was trying to lead her back to her hut, except he'd gotten lost.)  
  
Mao Yin asked the Heavens why she couldn't have her own chance to grasp happiness. Unfortunately, they didn't answer.   
  
-----  
  
Ranma relaxed, one of the few parts of the day where he could actually be alone. No Nabiki trying to get him to sign a contract, specifying her as his agent. No Akane trying to beat on Nabiki, or just about anyone except Kasumi, to "defend his honor" or somesuch. No shy and demure Kasumi finding excuses to demonstrate her traditional feminine charms. No glomping from Shampoo.   
  
"Oh my, did I forget to put the sign out?" Nabiki smiled from the furo. "Well, since you're here..."  
  
Ranma slid the door closed again. They HADN'T been sneaking into the bath. Well, there was that time Kasumi had brought in extra towels. Come to think of it, there was that time Shampoo had offered to wash his hair with some "special" shampoos. Or the time when Akane had offered to scrub his back before running off saying something about how perverted SHE was getting.  
  
Ranma's shoulders slumped. He really needed some time alone. The only thing he really wondered is why it had taken Nabiki that long to try something like this? She was usually MUCH more forward. Such as all the attempts she'd made to examine his dragon tattoo. He'd bought it at first. Studying it from up close had been sensible. Touching and rubbing his tattoo had been a bit more odd, but still well within the realm of reason. When Nabiki had went to licking and sucking on the tattoo, starting at his shoulder and heading towards his belt, Ranma had finally gotten the idea that this was not completely innocent.   
  
Behind him, Shampoo stuck her head in the window. "Nabiki strike out as well."  
  
"Like your little battleplan worked out." Nabiki toweled herself off without looking at the Amazon. "This hasn't worked out for any of us."  
  
"Akane lose nerve. Kasumi go off into fantasyland and Ranma sneak away. Nabiki too obvious. Shampoo not fool airen. Girls at school keep trying, so what we do?"  
  
Nabiki finished dressing. "What do we do? We keep united in our resolve! Shampoo, we will not rest until Ranma has made a choice!"  
  
"Oh brother," muttered Ranma as he crept away from where he'd been listening. This was getting WAY out of hand. And his mother was coming tomorrow. Such joy he felt at the prospect of his mother seeing this nonsense.  
  
-----  
  
The morning was shaping up as usual. Kuno giving a nod of the head, indicating that he'd wait for the formal match later. He had not given up on Akane, but knew that Ranma would give him honorable combat, samurai to samurai, later.  
  
The usual routine was broken by a yell. "Ranma, at last I have found you!"  
  
Everyone looked around for the source of the voice until Akane tracked where Ranma's gaze was focussed. "There he is," she pointed to the top of a nearby building.   
  
Silhoutted by the rising sun, a boy pointed down at Ranma. "Ranma Saotome! Now you shall pay for running out on our man to man duel! For the HELL you have put me through, you shall DDDDDDIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!"  
  
With that as his battlecry, the figure leapt. Despite it being a three story drop, and over forty feet away, there was absolutely no doubt in anyone's mind that this boy would survive the attack. That he had a projective aura similar to Ranma's (without the heroic or manly referents) did not occur to anyone save Nabiki, who had worked out that aspect of his transformation just a few days ago.  
  
The boy's impact opened a three foot wide crater where Ranma had been standing a moment before.   
  
"Who?" Ranma analyzed the image of the boy before him. No exact match was found, though the bandana... "Ryouga?"  
  
"So you DO remember me," Ryouga snarled showing his prominent fangs. "Now you shall pay for leading me on that wild goose chase through China!"  
  
"I don't get it, Ryouga, I waited for you for three days, and if it's about the bread..."  
  
"ARrrrrgghhh." Ryouga screamed. "I arrived on the fourth day but you'd already fled to China! How dare you run out on a man-to-man duel?"  
  
There was muttering from the crowd as Ryouga's comments were repeated. "Four days late for a duel?"   
  
"Ranma, prepare to die!"  
  
*WHAM!* Ryouga staggered forward as something struck him in the back of the head.  
  
Akane had grabbed Kuno's bokken. "You stop threatening MY Ranma!"  
  
Ryouga turned towards Akane.  
  
*WHAM!* Ryouga staggered to the side.  
  
Shampoo glared over at Akane as she pushed away from Ryouga after doing a flying dragon kick from the third floor. "He not YOUR Ranma yet! Shampoo no lose!"  
  
"Would you stop that!" Ryouga began to build up his power. A brick, thrown by Yuka, slammed into his nose. Various women in the crowd began hurling projectiles. "Cut it out!"  
  
"Everyone, run!" Ranma watched Ryouga's power level building, at this rate... "Get to cover, quickly!"  
  
"Huh?" Everyone glanced around. Ranma was telling them to run, but why?  
  
Ryouga's growl clued the vast majority in as a glow flickered into place around him. His shirt burst open in a fashion almost exactly like Kenshiro from "Hokuto No Ken"- a resemblence not lost on all of those watching. The crowd fled, exercising the better part of valor and having either made their wisdom check or having failed their morale roll.  
  
Kuno directed the others back, confident in Ranma's ability to deal with the intruder. After all, was not Saotome a samurai like himself?  
  
Then there were the others. Shampoo and Akane taking battlestances. How dare this interloper threaten not only Ranma, but their school?  
  
Nabiki left the protection of the school, her family was perhaps the only thing she'd put above her own personal safety. She stared at the tattoo on Ryouga's chest, so similar to Ranma's. Instead of a coiled oriental dragon, this was a western dragon with five heads, each a different color. The white head was moving, twisting, and silently threw back its head in a howl.  
  
Nabiki yelled and threw herself flat on the ground. "Take cover!"   
  
"FREEZE FRAME!" Ryouga struck the ground. A wave of mist sped out from him, ice forming over every surface as it passed.  
  
"Now, Ranma, without interference," Ryouga snarled, eyes seeming to blaze, "we can settle this..."  
  
"K-Kasumi?!"  
  
Both Ryouga and Ranma turned. A woman Ranma did not recognize stood with Genma near the gate to the school, staring at the pillar of ice a few feet ahead of them.  
  
Ryouga straightened up and looked around him, at the frozen front of the school, at the various icy pillars seeming to thrust up out of the frozen ground. "Oops."  
  
"RYOUGA!" Ranma slammed into Ryouga, "go NOW, I have to fix what you've done here. If you STILL need to fight me, do it some other time!"  
  
"Oh no, Ranma, you're not getting out of this fight that..." Ryouga's eyes widened as he saw that the ice pillars actually had people in them. Fighting a gagging reflex, Ryouga managed to stammer out an agreement. "Yeah, um, I think I better get going."  
  
"Ranma?" The woman with the long bundle watched Ryouga go with a frown.   
  
Ranma stepped up to her. "You must be my mother, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to know you."   
  
Genma looked around the schoolyard. "Damn, what that boy did..."   
  
"Those over there just need to be chipped out of the ice, father," Ranma pointed at the crowd. "Mother, please assist him. Ryouga's ice attack went mainly to his sides and front. They were behind him and were spared the brunt of the attack."  
  
"What will you be doing, son?" His mother eyed him carefully, was this truly her son?  
  
Ranma sighed. "First I break the ice. Shampoo and Akane stood by me, Nabiki tried to protect her family- Akane. Kasumi saw her family in danger and got in the way too."  
  
"So that's why she ran ahead of us." Genma grunted and brought a fist down on a sheet of ice, cracking it.  
  
Ranma nodded, while finding his wa, his center. "They paid the price, I can feel their lifeforce almost gone. There's only one thing to do. Give them mine."  
  
Nodoka Saotome glanced over at her son and smiled but wiped away a tear. Her first impression WAS correct. He truly was a "man among men."   
  
Ranma arched his back and gathered power. The resemblence to Ryouga's earlier ki buildup was almost exact. His shirt burst open. The "tattoo" of the coiled oriental dragon writhed as the power built.  
  
Ice shattered. Kasumi, Akane, and Shampoo slumped in the remains of their prisons while Nabiki finally reached the ground.  
  
Ranma smiled, a little bit wistfully, fully aware of the hurry. He reached Kasumi first, replenishing her ki with his own. He moved on to the next, a little unsteadily. Nabiki, Shampoo, Akane all receiving a replenishing of their own life force from him, all warming as the increased ki flowed through him.   
  
Ranma heard his mother shout as things went black and he felt himself fall on top of Akane. As everything faded out, he hoped he had been successful.  
  
-----------  
  
"Akane, you're awake!"  
  
Akane slowly got up, groaning as she did. "Ow."  
  
"You ought to rest a little longer," Kasumi tried to smile. "We all had to before we got our strength back."  
  
"What happened? Did we..."  
  
"You don't remember, Akane? The white light, the presence, the sense of peace?" Kasumi shook her head. "Though it may seem to be like a dream now."  
  
"Yeah, kinda, it was...oh no."  
  
"Yes, Akane, we were dead." Kasumi sighed and got up. Her joints still hurt from that terrible cold. "We got better, but Ranma..."  
  
"It couldn't be. Not Ranma! Ranma could never be beaten by that..." Akane looked at her sister's griefstricken expression, waiting.  
  
"No, Akane." Kasumi sat on the bed next to her sister. "We've already heard this several times as Shampoo and Nabiki and I were all filled in on this. Ranma strengthened our lifeforce with his own. He just didn't have anything left for himself."  
  
"No..." Akane felt tears welling up.  
  
The door nearly burst off its hinges. Shampoo leaned in. "RANMA ALIVE!"  
  
----  
  
Downstairs the body had put on a futon. It had been Shampoo who had stared at the body and realized something about it. Then she'd uncovered the futon, torn Ranma's shirt off, and gone off to tell everyone.  
  
"Look, see!" Shampoo pointed at the body.   
  
Nabiki scowled. "He isn't breathing and I don't feel a heartbeat, so what are you pointing at?"  
  
"Look at tattoo!" Shampoo couldn't believe it. Didn't these Japanese know anything about magic?  
  
"That's weird," Akane said thoughtfully. She could remember that tattoo from her brief glimpses. This looked almost like a trail of colored water but it occupied the same general area and was about the right size. "It's almost completely faded out. Why would that happen?"   
  
"You kidding, right?" It was Shampoo's turn to scowl. "Tattoo is not tattoo! Tattoo move when airen stand still! You get now?"  
  
Blank looks rewarded Shampoo's efforts.  
  
"Aiyaaaaa! Shampoo no believe this. This prove that Shampoo should just take Ranma and run for Amazon Village where airen have at least fighting chance."   
  
"I'm afraid I can't allow that," Nodoka Saotome said sadly. "He'll be cremated and interred in proper Japanese fashion."  
  
Shampoo would have torn her hair out if such a thing wouldn't reflect badly on her Amazon roots. "Airen NOT dead! Tattoo linked to Ranma's lifeforce!"  
  
"Ohhhhhhhh." Comprehension finally clicked.  
  
"How do we know that's true?" Akane wasn't going to give the Amazon any credit. After all, she was a bimbo.  
  
Shampoo thought about this. "If airen give his life for us, then he have..." She looked shocked as a thought occurred to her. "Shampoo got to go check something."  
  
Nabiki watched Shampoo run down the hallway. "What's gotten into her?"  
  
There was a slam, as of a door closing, a brief pause, the same door slamming open, then the sound of someone running back down the hall. Shampoo came running into the room.  
  
Soun's eyes couldn't have popped open any further. Genma stared only to find his wife's hand suddenly blocking the view.  
  
"Shampoo, put your shirt back on!" Akane stopped abruptly as she realized what else she was looking at.  
  
Shampoo nodded. "Shampoo think everyone else check too!" One of her fingers traced the faded dragon tattoo which curled sinuously up her body. Green-blue scales seemed to glisten in the light.  
  
"Oh my!"  
  
"Damn."  
  
"I wonder if I can..."  
  
"Genma, I think you ought to leave the room. You too, Mister Tendo."  
  
"But, dear..."  
  
"Mrs Saotome, I..."  
  
"Now, boys." Nodoka Saotome escorted the two men out of the room without once having to draw steel. Both knew it was there, however, and this did have some intimidation factor.  
  
"Shampoo thought so." Shampoo looked down at Ranma, resting her hand on his chest.  
  
"It looks like," Akane didn't want to admit that Shampoo had something right. It wasn't fair that Shampoo was a better martial artist, was cuter, and a better cook than her. If she couldn't hold a superior intelligence over that "Chinese bimbo" what could she use to assert her own superiority?  
  
"Yes, it looks just slightly more solid. It has certainly stopped fading." Nabiki, ever the pragmatist, was working it out. She didn't understand magic, but seeing Ranma throw ki blasts and levitate were enough to indicate that there was more to the world than in old Horatio's reckoning. Cause and effect, whether linked by physics or ki or this magic stuff, was a familiar enough framework for her to begin working out the basics.  
  
Nabiki *had* studied Ranma's tattoo up close. When he'd raised that ball of chi on his first day, she'd gotten a clear look at how the dragon had moved independent of the skin. That had gotten the Nabiki Tendo Curiosity Factor (a term she now preferred to snoopiness) going. She had studied it close, she had noted that the dragon had a slightly cooler temperature than the surrounding skin, she'd noticed the odd play of light, and even a slightly spring-rain scent and taste to it. Then she'd gotten a little carried away and Ranma had freaked out, but it had been interesting while it lasted.  
  
"What if two?" Kasumi laid her own hand next to Shampoo's. "Was that a little more color?"  
  
Nabiki and Akane each knelt down, taking Ranma's hands. There seemed to be a twitch but nothing else.  
  
Nabiki directed the others through a few actions, some moving away, some touching, some leaving the room. Finally she thought she had an idea of how the whole thing worked. "Proximity seems to be the key here, as opposed to physical contact." Nabiki nodded. "Kasumi, you and I will gather extra futons. As long as one of us keeps in physical contact with him, there's a resonance between our 'shared lifeforce' for lack of a better term. We should all stay here for the night."  
  
"Nabiki! You're kidding! Right?"  
  
"Akane, if we accept that the dragon tattoo is, in fact, tied to Ranma's lifeforce, then the degree of fading would indicate how low it is. Do you remember when you first noticed it, that it looked more like a water trail than anything else?" Nabiki pointed to the hint of coloration that might have had a vague resemblence to a dragon. "The ones on our bodies are far more solid than his."  
  
"So we..."  
  
"Sleep in the same room," Nabiki assured her sister. "It's not like he's going to get up and ravish us." Nabiki watched her sister's face turn completely red. The odd thing was that Kasumi's blush was only slightly less prominent.  
  
"Shampoo stay too!" Shampoo glared at Akane, just daring her to say anything.  
  
"By the way, Shampoo, you can put your shirt back on now. We've all observed how the dragon seems to move when you touch Ranma and I appreciate the information."  
  
Shampoo shrugged. "Well, Shampoo remain here with airen. Shampoo think it going to be long night."  
  
On THAT there was no disagreement.  
  
======  
  
next: "Oh no. Kodachi? Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics? We don't have time for this nonsense! Next time on Dragon's Destiny: Tool Time, we'll see you there."  
  



	4. Tool Time

DRAGON'S DESTINY 4: Tool Time  
  
a Betfic by Gregg Sharp  
  
--------------------------  
  
Nabiki was having a pleasant recurrent dream. The dream usually had her as the agent, standing nearby as her husband/client was the subject of a photo shoot, modelling the latest in men's fashions and making large sums of money before the two would go off to their private little mansion. She'd work her stock portfolio then, getting more and more turned on as those extra digits filled her bank account.   
  
Finally...she'd wake up with the disappointment that was reality to find Ranma was still down the hall and to the left instead of right there at hand.  
  
There seemed to be significant differences tonight. She realized that SHE was the photographer, snapping photos and directing Ranma in his various poses. The feeling of personal control was a bit of a rush, however, so she didn't mind.   
  
That big sister Kasumi was the makeup artist registered about five minutes into the photo shoot. This was sufficiently jarring that she took note of the other changes. There was Akane who was working the lighting and otherwise acting as Nabiki's assistant. Shampoo was  
working security, keeping the crowd of women at bay.   
  
Nabiki shrugged. Why was she including them in the dream? Who cared? Who was that girl with the spatula looking sadly from across the field? All sorts of odd details were intruding. She concentrated on getting the pictures she wanted and the dream continued.  
  
-----  
  
Shampoo dreamed of returning to her home, her husband in tow, properly deferential to her in public as was custom. Shampoo stopped as the dream took an unexpected turn. What was Akane doing here? Kasumi? Nabiki? Akane she could almost see as an Amazon, but Kasumi was almost  
the antithesis of an amazon. Nabiki she could almost see as an Amazon too, just in a purely financial battleground.  
  
It was very confusing but oddly satisfying.  
  
---------   
  
Akane dreamed of having Ranma, and continuing on the Anything Goes dojo. There she was, fixing curry tonight, as her husband taught the evening class of students.   
  
Akane stumbled as one of their children ran into her leg. Why did he have purple hair? It was an oddly jarring detail. Everything was right and proper and in its place. Kasumi was watching the children. Shampoo   
was teaching the women's self-defense course at the Civic Center. Nabiki was overseeing the family's finances. Yes, everything was perfectly normal.  
  
Something didn't feel right, though, and that continued to nag at her.  
  
--------  
  
Kasumi dreamed. She looked up from her medical textbooks to see Ranma keeping the children occupied while mommy studied. Nabiki brought in a hot tea, with the exams coming up she wasn't going to cut down on the  
caffeine. Extra study time was mandated.  
  
Looking out her window, Kasumi could see the dojo where Shampoo and Akane were instructing the evening course. Turning back to text, she concentrated on her studies, letting the feeling of peace and Contentment wash over her.  
  
-------  
  
Morning in Nerima.   
  
Kasumi was the first to awake, as was her routine. What she found was sufficiently startling to bring her to full awareness immediately.  
  
"Oh my!"  
  
Kasumi's startled exclamation immediately roused Shampoo, who'd realized she'd been hugging Ranma during the night. Not that Shampoo saw anything wrong with that, with some physical contact the circulation of chi seemed stronger.  
  
Shampoo blinked as she registered that sometime during the night one of her rivals had also moved close to Ranma. Nabiki hadn't woke up, and was mumbling something as she moved a little closer.  
  
"He's breathing," Kasumi whispered to Shampoo.   
  
Shampoo nodded, he'd started doing that about midnight. A weak pulse had started about the same time. Now with better lighting, she checked his chest, waking Nabiki as she flipped the cover back.   
  
"Airen getting some color back." Shampoo nodded. "Is good. Pulse stronger. Tattoo outline much firmer."  
  
"Eeeep!" Akane covered her face as she realized that she: a) wasn't dreaming.  
b) Shampoo had pulled off more than just the cover of the futon while checking her patient.  
  
"Yowza!" Nabiki whistled.  
  
"Oh my. He really is a 'man among men,' isn't he?"  
  
Everyone else stared at Kasumi briefly. Finally Shampoo covered Ranma again. "Is good to see airen has proper color coming back....Why everyone stare at Shampoo now?"  
  
-------  
  
Shampoo sat back against the wall. She was still an outsider here, and not accepted into any of the little cliques that formed among the students.  
  
She could go sit with the other two gaijin, an American and a Brit, who would welcome her company, but didn't feel like dealing with the two.  
  
Shampoo glanced back over the cafeteria. There were a LOT of missing students today. Ryouga's attack had damaged the front of the school, plus the number of students suffering frostbite and exposure was high.  
  
Some girls were approaching Akane. They hadn't been seriously injured in yesterday's attack, but were now swathed in bandages. Could it be Ryouga? Shampoo moved closer, hoping to hear the details.  
  
"You want me to defend the school's honor? That's fine but in Rhythmic Gymnastics?" Akane shook her head. "I don't know..."  
  
"Please Akane, you've got to help us." One of the women pleaded. "She keeps winning matches for Saint Hebereke by attacking members of the opposing team before the match. You're the only one we can count on."  
  
"But I..."  
  
Shampoo smiled. "Akane go. You need defend school. Is much honor."  
  
Akane glared at Shampoo. "You just want time to spend alone with Ranma!"  
  
Shampoo shook her head. "Shampoo will have rest of life to spend with Ranma. When is match?"  
  
"Uhm, it's next week."  
  
Shampoo smiled at Akane. "Akane train in one week. Then defend school like Shampoo would defend village. By then, airen maybe good enough he can come too."  
  
"Oh, Ranma will be there!" Two of the girls sighed. "Oh, yes, with Ranma there we're sure to win!"  
  
"Yeah, Kodachi won't be able to keep her mind on the match," the third suggested.  
  
Akane watched with a sinking feeling as she realized that just being silent had somehow committed her. Now she not only had to participate, but win because she couldn't bear losing in front of Ranma.  
  
Shampoo kept her expression neutral. If Akane lost in front of Ranma, then a rival would be humiliated. If Akane won, then Shampoo's help in setting this up would defuse some of the hostility towards her. She just loved win-win situations.  
  
-------  
  
Kasumi noticed that Genma and Soun were watching that soap opera again. She'd normally wait until they were out of the room before cleaning, but she'd noticed that Ranma's health seemed to decline when none of those recipients of his chi were around.  
  
The two on the couch never looked up as she swept the room, engrossed in the program as Noriko Sakai stalked a young couple, intent on blackmailing her former manager from her idol singer days. Kasumi shook her head, the same old thing, over and over again.  
  
The two didn't pay attention to her at all, until Kasumi (intent on getting that dust bunny that had just rolled under the couch) lifted one end of the couch.  
  
What caused the two fathers to lose interest in the soap opera was that it was the end of the couch that Genma's panda form was occupying. That, and Kasumi was holding it up with one hand while sweeping underneath with the other. Satisfied that no dust bunny would survive while SHE was on duty, Kasumi gently placed the couch back into position and finished up. After all, she had to check on Ranma now.  
  
-----  
  
"Uhm, Kasumi?"   
  
"More rice, Nabiki?"  
  
"Yeah. That wasn't it, though. Have you noticed anything strange today?"  
  
Kasumi thought. "No, not really."  
  
The sound of Soun and Genma backing a little farther back from the table and away from the three daughters (and guest) could be clearly heard in the brief silence.  
  
"I have," Akane fixed her father and his friend with a "don't mess with me, I've had a pretty hard day" glare.  
  
"Shampoo notice odd things too."  
  
"Such as how much we've been eating today?" Nabiki pointed at her third bowl of rice. "At this rate we'd look like Mister Saotome by the end of the week. Somehow I doubt it."  
  
"Shampoo notice. Shampoo always strong warrior, strong fighter." Shampoo picked up the can of "Pocari Sweat" she'd just finished off. Very delicately, she flattened the can and rolled it up into a tiny cylinder. "Shampoo get stronger."  
  
"Big deal," Akane waved off Shampoo's little feat. "You should have seen the shot I made in basketball today."   
  
"Shampoo did. You miss basket. You miss basket by at least 20 meters."  
  
"Can I help it? It went through the damn backboard!"  
  
"Oh my."  
  
"I take it then, that none of you have checked your own tattoos." Nabiki smirked. It was one of her standard "I'm so clever" smirks. She had almost as many smirks as Akane had glares or her father had wails. It had often been a joke growing up that her father was, in  
fact, the prince of wails.  
  
There was a groan from both Mr Saotome and Soun Tendo as Shampoo checked.   
  
"Shampoo, haven't you ever heard of modesty?" Akane's head thumped on the dining room table. She couldn't believe the Amazon sometimes.  
  
"No, Akane, what that mean? Aiyaaa. Nabiki right. Tattoo much more visible."  
  
Soun made an odd noise as he looked at the way the tattoo coiled up Shampoo's ribs, deftly moving past...  
  
Kasumi waited until Shampoo had pulled her shirt back down before removing her hands from in front of her father's eyes. "Oh, father, father, father."  
  
"Kasumi's moving as fast as a trained martial artist," Nabiki held up one finger. "I myself tried this sort of thing out today. I'd say that I'm in fair shape, but nothing compared to THIS."  
  
"Daughters, we've got to find that cave and get you turned back before it is too late."  
  
Shampoo nodded. Everyone else simply looked at the two fathers as if they had gone insane.  
  
"No, father," Nabiki sighed. "If we were turning into 'men among men' or something like that, there would have been other signs visible before now. Believe me, I DID check for that. As far as I can tell, there's only this odd strength."  
  
"This would indicate a general strengthening or enhancement of the musculoskeletal system, including the tendons and ligaments, probably due to a factor in the chi transfusion." Kasumi stopped as everyone stared at her. "Uhm, right?"  
  
"Yeah, sis." Nabiki shrugged. "Well, I need a bath, and somebody needs to go check on 'Sleeping Beauty' - we don't want to leave him alone too long." Nabiki realized that she was suddenly the only one in the room excepting the two fathers. "Yeah, a good soak  
is definitely in order."  
  
-------  
  
"Ah, and what have I found here?" Kodachi crept through the window. She'd come seeking her next opponent, but this, this was too good to pass up.  
  
Unconcious and cute, just the way she liked them. Kodachi Kuno smiled. This one was beyond cute, and slept in the nude too. She glanced over the recumbent form and stamped the mental picture as "Prime Beef." She could always come back to deal with that upstart Akane Tendo, yes.  
  
She left the room by the window, just as she'd entered, but paid for her "withdrawal" with a bouquet of black roses. Unfortunately the boy seemed to be heavier than he looked.  
  
"WHO THAT!?"   
  
"Shampoo, get out of the way!"  
  
"Oh dear."  
  
Kodachi looked at the three girls now giving chase. None of them looked particularly dangerous, in fact, that older girl looked like she'd be a pushover.   
  
"Now, now, girls, finder's keepers... ohohohohoho." A snap of the wrist and a black rose dart was sent towards the weakest-looking one, once she was down one of the others would stay behind to make  
sure she was all right. A tactic that had served Kodachi well in the past.  
  
Kasumi saw the rose coming, her eyes widened. She vanished.  
  
Kodachi meant to leap atop the Tendo Compound Wall, but caught a glimpse of Kasumi's leap and lost her timing completely.   
  
*SLAM!*  
  
Kodachi looked up at the sky. She must have imagined it. That frumpy looking older woman couldn't possibly have leapt THAT high. She felt the boy being taken away from her. A moment later a girl about her  
own age was looking down at her.  
  
"You must be Kodachi, the Black Rose?" Akane grabbed Kodachi's shoulder and easily pulled the other girl up. Kodachi noticed that the grip there was just shy of the pressure required to crush bone. As it was, Kodachi was pretty sure that she would be bruised there.  
  
"She call herself Black and Blue Rose, very very, soon." Shampoo cracked her knuckles. She grabbed Kodachi's other shoulder and held tight.  
  
"You vicious harridans," Kodachi was having a hard time talking and clenching her teeth at the same time. "Let me go!"  
  
"Shut up!" Both Akane and Shampoo tried to shake the leotard clad girl. Unfortunately neither had quite managed to take the effects of their newfound strength into effect.  
  
"She faint?"  
  
"Hmmph. I guess she's like all those other bullies, she can take it but she can't dish it out."  
  
--------  
  
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa." Kasumi finally landed. Dusting herself off and looking around, Kasumi wondered where exactly she was. "Oh my. That was actually kind of fun."  
  
One young boy was staring at her, as well he might since she'd just dropped out of nowhere.   
  
"Excuse me," Kasumi smiled at the boy who was standing behind some kind of gas grill. "Could you tell me where I am?"  
  
"Uhm, you're in Kobe. Uhm, are you..."   
  
"Oh yes, I'm fine." Kasumi nodded. "I've got to get back to Nerima. Is there a train station nearby?"  
  
The boy nodded. "It won't be here for a little while though."  
  
"Oh my, but I've got to get back home. Ranma is still quite sick."  
  
"RANMA!?!" The boy glared at Kasumi but there was just something so "doggone nice" about the woman, and anybody who could survive a fall like that and just get up and walk away was pretty damn tough. "You wouldn't mean Ranma Saotome?"  
  
"Why yes, do you know him?" Kasumi wasn't concerned about the brief look of hatred passing over the boy's face. It was probably just a misunderstanding.  
  
"You could say that," said Ukyou Kuonji. "Where did you say he is?"  
  
========  
  
end chapter 4 DD. 


	5. Five Dragons, A Spatula, & Ryouga

DRAGON'S DESTINY 5: Five Dragons, A Spatula, & Ryouga  
  
a Ranma 1/2 Altered Destiny fanfic by Gregg Sharp  
i don't own these characters, that doesn't keep me  
from having fun with them.  
  
----------  
  
Kasumi offered a "Pocky" to her travelling companion. Not the strawberry ones, the dark chocolate "for men" variety. We all have our vices, and one of Kasumi's "secret" vices was that she was a chocoholic.  
  
"So you don't think he knows," Ukyou stared at the little pretzel stick. She'd never cared for them.   
  
"Oh my. No. That was one of the impressions I'd gotten, though it took me a little while to remember you." Kasumi nibbled on the end of her snack. "Ever since that afternoon, I've been remembering people  
and places and things I've never seen before."  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
Kasumi smiled and stared off into space. "Oh my. That explains a lot."  
  
"What does?"  
  
"I'm afraid Ranma was still fairly new at all this, and the reason he's currently in a coma isn't that he's only got a trickle of his former chi. He overdid it in more than one manner. The chi transfer would have been tricky with practice, but I'm afraid that with the   
clock ticking (as it were) he put a bit more than his chi into the transfer."  
  
"I'm sorry, I saw someone land, apparently after falling out of a plane, and get up, but this is so..." Ukyou broke off as Kasumi casually formed a chi sphere. "Nice trick."  
  
"I've seen Ranma do it before," Kasumi smiled. "Kind of neat isn't it? I may never need a flashlight again."  
  
"So," Ukyou couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from the glowing ball hovering an inch off Kasumi's palm, "you were saying..."  
  
"It looks like Ranma accidently put a lot of himself, quite literally, into the process."  
  
------  
  
Ucchan looked down at the comatose patient, then around at the various girls gathered here. Nodoka, Ranma's mother, was stationed outside the door. The two fathers were stationed outside the window. No one was to intervene in this.  
  
The little revelation of Ukyou's engagement to Ranma had gone over about as well as one had expected. Only that Genma had to be conscious and in fair condition to guard against intruders was keeping him from a severe beating.  
  
Ukyou looked down again at Ranma. So he had NOT known of the engagement. All he'd known was that his best friend had come to see him off. All the years of craving revenge against him and his father, and it had been such a waste.  
  
The others were kneeling around him and trying to gather their enhanced chi. To put back into him what he had given them. Kasumi and Nabiki had worked out the details with Shampoo, and all were willing to give it a try. Otherwise, the only cure would likely be to find the Dragon's cave again. Shampoo had pointed out that some of the Chinese script indicated that you could only find the cave once, which meant that Genma would never be able to use it again even if he dared.  
  
Ukyou looked at Ranma and knew that she COULD have her revenge. One throwing spatula to his throat while the others were occupied, and it would be all over. Of course, she'd probably be dead a moment later herself.   
  
As if there had been some cue that Ukyou had missed, the kneeling girls placed their hands on Ranma's chest. Ukyou noticed none of them were paying attention to her. They knew she wouldn't do it. Her fingers slipped from the throwing spatula.  
  
Ukyou suppressed a gasp. His tattoo was changing, gaining color and definition. She knelt down next to Nabiki, watching as a healthy color began to flow through Ranma again.  
  
------  
  
Ryouga stopped outside a building and read the kanji. "Ten-do Training hall. Hmmmph. Maybe they know where I can find Ranma."  
  
There was the sound of an explosion somewhere on the premises. Torn between wanting to see if anyone was hurt and the certainty that he'd get blamed for it (the way things were going), Ryouga proceeded to get lost again.  
  
------  
  
Ranma awoke, his mind a jumble. What had happened? Why was he still alive? Why did he want to bake cookies?   
  
"Shampoo, at last I've found you!"  
  
WHACK! "Stupid, stupid, Mousse!"  
  
Ranma slowly opened his eyes, which felt as if the weight of a mountain had somehow been transferred onto them. Ah, they had been, there were two mountains, right there in front of...  
  
Ukyou's eyes widened. She was still shielding Ranma's head from any of the debris from the "chicken egg" bombs that Mousse had used to get into the house. She'd felt Ranma go suddenly stiff and then abruptly  
go limp again.  
  
Releasing him, she noted that his face had flushed,his eyes were open, and there was a goofy grin still plastered on his face. Looking at the faint trickle of blood from one of his nostrils, she looked down at herself and realized that the chest bindings must have burst when she grabbed Ranma to shield him from the debris.  
  
"AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAaaaaaaaa."  
  
One of Mousse's chain weapons had been grabbed by Akane, and the male Amazon was being spun around faster and faster. "Round and round and round he goes, where he stops..." Akane was enjoying this.  
  
"Shampoo knows!" Shampoo stood a few feet from the wall, summoning a blue glow around her.  
  
Akane launched Mousse towards Shampoo, noting that when Mousse passed over the koi pond the air pressure kicked up a water trail.  
  
"WHAT PART OF 'NO' DOES MOUSSE NOT UNDERSTAND!" It was not a martial  
arts move that Shampoo used, it was something she'd practiced in school just the other day. Volleyball, they called the sport.   
  
Ukyou looked from the battle down at Ranma, as he slept there in her arms. She blinked at all the conflicting feelings sweeping through her.  
  
------  
  
"Hmmph, so we have to go to this 'Cave Of The Dragon Fist' to bring Ranma back to full power so he can take Ryouga on, eh?" Akane cracked her knuckles. "Why don't _I_ take him on, instead?"  
  
"Not sure that good idea." Shampoo shook her head. "Certainly no do this one-on-one. Ryouga very strong. Each of us have only part of dragon's power. You see tattoos? Tattoos never go full formed like airen's." Shampoo flipped her shirt up again, causing Soun to faint and Akane to groan.  
  
"We all seem to have benefitted in different ways from the chi and enchantments being split among us," Nabiki counseled. She didn't mention the different highlighted colors on the dragons, since she wasn't sure what they signified. "Though all of us are stronger than we were, each of us has manifested the dragon in a different manner.  
  
"Kasumi was actually flying the other day, until she realized what she was doing and crashed again. Shampoo here has found that she is a lot faster than she used to be. Akane's strength has been raised to damn near ridiculous levels. I seem to be able to see things more clearly than before, perhaps the Arabic legends about the eyes of the  
dragon seeing the spirit world were based on this sort of thing." Nabiki paused and rubbed her eyes. She had been up late reading on a regular basis lately.  
  
"So I've got this guidebook. Since Ranma has already been to the cave   
once, we won't even be able to find it if he comes along. That means some of us have to stay here behind to guard him."  
  
"Hey, I don't need anyone to guard me."  
  
"Airen, please shut up."  
  
"Yeah, Ranma, you're still way too weak to face Ryouga. Heck, Hiroshi   
might be able to beat you right now. No, you've got to be guarded. The   
decision is who to go and who to stay."  
  
"Shampoo and Akane stay. We best fighters."  
  
Akane shot a grateful glance at Shampoo, then realized what she was doing and looked away.   
  
"Good enough. I really WANT to go, but think I'd probably do better here myself doing damage control." Nabiki pursed her lips. She REALLY wanted to go and run control on this.  
  
"I'm going," Ukyou announced. "I'm a fighter and I haven't been touched by this dragon-magic whatsisstuff. I'm not about to let Ranchan pass on unless I'm the one doing it."  
  
"Oh dear." Kasumi thought about it, about having to leave her kitchen, her home. She felt almost as if it were that she'd have to leave a leg behind, the house was so comfortable and so much a part of her being.  
  
Nabiki looked into her older sister's eyes. "Sis, if you don't go, I'll have to."   
  
"This silly." Shampoo made an unlady like sound. "Nabiki go, Kasumi go, Spatula girl go too. Shampoo quite capable of cooking for airen and family while here, even if airen mother not help."  
  
Nabiki smiled. "Thank you Shampoo. It's settled then, we go to China tonight."  
  
"But how, Nabiki, do you have plane tickets?" Ukyou shifted her bandolier back into place. Thing was a little heavy in front.  
  
-------  
  
"I had to ask...." Ukyou mumbled as she held onto the rail literally and her dinner in a figurative manner.  
  
"Ohhhh my!" Kasumi managed for what was probably the twelfth time  
since they'd gotten started.   
  
Nabiki was really beginning to have second thoughts about this. Skimming low over the ocean, Kasumi holding a rope looped to the prow of a rowboat, had at first been a leisurely little romp.  
  
Until Kasumi had suddenly decided this was FUN and, well...  
  
A metaphorical bird in the gilded cage had gotten loose. Said bird had obviously done a transformation job worthy of Juusenkyo because the happy little bluebird was now singing its little heart out if it hadn't transformed to another species of bird altogether.  
  
Nabiki wasn't sure if it was a loon, a swift, or a hummingbird. Her dear, dear, sister was enjoying her newfound freedom. If Nabiki could be sure that Ms Kuonji and herself would survive this, she'd be quite happy for Kasumi.  
  
The one time Kasumi had an idle thought wondering how high UP she could fly, both Nabiki and Ukyou had been clutching to the rowboat like it was the only thing keeping them from a swift and sudden death. In Ukyou's case it certainly had been.   
  
Nabiki glanced over at Ukyou who was STILL looking like her hands would have to be pried off. Nabiki was just glad that Ms Kuonji's hearing hadn't been damaged what with all the blood from the sudden  
change in altitude.   
  
Nabiki had found it kind of exhilarating actually. You normally had to be a jet fighter pilot to pull those kind of g forces. Either that or be a passenger on the space shuttle.  
  
Still this was better, Kasumi MAINLY restraining herself to speeds barely in excess of 200mph. There was the occasional slip, and the little rowboat wouldn't be anywhere near the water and the little  
"tail" they kicked up at those times was certainly quite impressive.  
  
Nabiki just prayed her sister wouldn't do another barrel roll. Mind you, this WOULD make a rollercoaster sort of ride that some people would pay a small fortune for.  
  
Nah, the insurance premiums would be a nightmare.  
  
China was beginning to loom ahead. Nabiki started calculating how fast her sister must have been going during those "bursts" and paled. "Oh my..."  
  
------  
  
Ranma went into a defensive stance. Ryouga snarled, showing his  
fangs in the process.  
  
"Lost boy no hurt airen," Shampoo took up a stance to Ranma's right.  
  
"I still want to pay you back for nearly killing me," said Akane as  
she settled into a stance to Ranma's left.  
  
"You two girls should go home, before you get hurt." Ryouga  
dismissed the threat of the two girls, after all, with his increased strength he could crush them all easily.  
  
"How dare you threaten the lovely Akane Tendo? I, the Blue Thunder   
of Furinkan High, shall punish thee for such vile manners!"  
  
Without even glancing in Kuno's direction, Ryouga caught the bokken  
as it swung at him.  
  
"How dare you show such inattention in battle, I shall smite thee!" Kuno tried to free his bokken, but it was held fast by Ryouga.  
  
"You should know, I've been practicing for our little match, Ranma." Ryouga smirked. "Watch this. LIGHTNING BREAK!"  
  
The image of the dragon on Ryouga's chest moved, the blue head moving up to the top position. Lightning flared around Ryouga's body, repeatedly striking both Kuno and the bokken. Both crumpled.  
  
The tattoo of the five headed dragon continued to move. Now a reddish head rose to the top, snarling to reveal a mouth filled with jagged teeth.  
  
"INFERNO!" Ryouga brought his hands forward, bringing a spray of flames towards his three opponents.   
  
Ranma, Shampoo, and Akane twisted and dodged. The inferno attack seemed to be a cone of flames, and he could obviously keep it going for more than an instant as he was attempting to keep Ranma centered  
in the blast.  
  
---------  
  
Ami looked into her scanner. "I'm still getting that high dark energy reading, I don't think it's the Negaverse, but it could be related."  
  
Usagi looked over from where she was trying to snag a manga away from Rei. "...but..."  
  
"We have to investigate, it's our duty!" Makoto stood, fist clenched in front of her as she made a stance.   
  
Usagi wailed. Minako dragged her along anyway.  
  
--------  
  
NEXT: Chapter 6/6, a wish, a hope, a prayer, and Kasumi is still flying like a hummingbird on PCP. we'll see you there!  



	6. Higher Destiny

DRAGON'S DESTINY 6/6: Higher Destiny  
  
a Ranma 1/2 Altered Destiny fanfic by Gregg Sharp  
  
i don't own these characters, that doesn't keep me from having fun with them.  
  
note: if something that does not treat the manga as gospel offends you, continue on to the next  
story. this is gonna offend you real bad. otherwise, kick your shoes off and enjoy.   
  
----------  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa."  
  
Nabiki looked over at Ukyou. "I DO  
wish that you'd stop doing that."  
  
"This is just SO much fun!" Kasumi smiled, happy as a bluebird and currently flying like one on PCP.  
  
"It's not so much the speed," Ukyou said, closing her eyes tightly. She was yelling  
across at Nabiki as the current howl of the wind seemed to overwhelm everything else. "It's not even skimming the trees at this kind of speed."  
  
Ukyou whimpered again as Kasumi noticed something, and made another 90 degree turn at speeds in excess of 120mph. "It's that she never seems to have heard of 'inertia'."  
  
Noting the greenish tint to Ukyou's face, Nabiki called up to where her sister was holding the rope that connected to their rowboat. "Whatever you do, don't go any faster, Kasumi."  
  
Kasumi, off in her own little world, of course only made out the last two words.  
An expression of joy passed over her face. "Faster it is!"  
  
This time two sets of screams could be heard echoing from the flying rowboat.  
  
-------  
  
Mao Yin looked up and gaped for a moment at what she saw. There was a young lady in a skirt, blouse, apron combination, holding a rope, which was attached to a rowboat, from which   
screams could be heard, and she was flying without the benefit of a plane.  
  
Aforementioned young lady abruptly increased speed going from "Very Fast" to "Where'd She Stash The Rocket?"  
  
"Damn," the young mystic managed. "That must've been one of those UFO thingies. Aren't they supposed to be saucer-shaped though?"  
  
Now if she could just make it to the coastline, she'd find this "Nerima" and teach that Ryouga to leave HER behind.  
  
--------  
  
"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"  
  
"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"  
  
"Aku Ryo Tai San!"  
  
"Where did all these girls come from? Ranma, you coward to hide behind weak little girls!" Ryouga held one hand down and began summoning chi into it.  
  
Akane stopped. "Did he say..."  
  
Sailor Jupiter's antennae popped back up with a crackling noise. "...weak..."  
  
"...little..." Flames began to appear around Sailor Mars hands.  
  
"...girls?" Shampoo's hand clenched and formed an energy sword.  
  
"DIE!" Akane's haymaker slammed into Ryouga's temple, causing him to step backwards.  
  
"FRY!" Sailor Mars brought her hands together and launched a "fire soul" attack.  
  
"GOODBYE!" Sailor Jupiter got up close and personal to thrust her next "Sparkling  
Wide Pressure" directly into Ryouga's face.  
  
Shampoo didn't bother with calling out an attack, just thrusting forward with her  
chi blade.  
  
"That's enough," Ryouga slapped the blade to the side and struck open palm to  
Shampoo's face. Shampoo flew across the street and made an Amazon-shaped impression on the wall.  
  
"FREEZE WAVE!" Ryouga struck the ground, mist shot out in a wave again. When the mist settled, there were some pillars of ice thrusting up from the frozen street where opponents had stood a moment ago. "Well, that was quick."  
  
A pillar of ice shattered, Akane stepping out of the jagged remainder of it a moment later.  
  
Shampoo groaned and started peeling herself out of the wall, which collapsed around her as she managed it.  
  
"Heh, well..." Ryouga's eyes widened. Where had Ranma gone while he was dealing with these girls?  
  
"DRAGON," came a voice behind Ryouga. Ryouga turned to see a beachball sized sphere of chi formed between Ranma's hands and glowing blue-white.  
  
"Uh-oh," Ryouga managed.  
  
"FIST!"  
  
A few moments passed as Ranma collapsed and the dust settled.  
  
Shampoo shattered the prisons of Jupiter and Mars. Akane broke the ice holding Mercury in place.   
  
"They injured." Shampoo noted the thready pulse. "They not do too good."  
  
Ranma gasped. "Ok. I think I know what I did wrong the last time."  
  
-----  
  
"That's it!" Nabiki pointed. "That's the mountain in the guidebook. Supposedly the cave is on the eastern side of the mountain, to face the dawn."  
  
Kasumi slowed to a mere crawl. She was beginning to feel tired anyway. Even with her flying ability taking most of the weight, her arms were sore from holding on to the rope.  
  
"Can we land now?" Ukyou tried not to sound too desperate.  
  
"THERE!" Nabiki pointed. "That's got to be it."  
  
Kasumi flew directly to the cave, only smashing the rowboat into the ground twice as she did so. Unfortunately, she was so tired she didn't notice the rope give way the last time.  
  
Nabiki and Ukyou, watching the rope continuing on without them into the cave, gulped. They then looked at each other as the new acceleration made itself felt.  
  
"Kasuuuuumiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" The rowboat slid down the steep slope, picking up a fair amount of speed as it did so.  
  
Kasumi entered the cave, looking at all the little glowing sparks floating about. "Oh my. How pretty."  
  
There was a single spotlight floating in midair, with writing in Chinese on it. Kasumi nodded, this was exactly how she had expected it to look from Ranma's description. Now where were Nabiki and Ukyou?  
  
Kasumi decided to be polite and respectful while she was waiting. "Hello? My name is Kasumi Tendo. You know someone who's, well," Kasumi blushed, "somebody special to me."  
  
Kasumi's blush deepened as she thought about him. If she wore glasses they'd have fogged up. "Oh dear. Anyway, I'm wondering...he's gotten injured and has had a great deal of power loss. It seems he's transferred a lot of his power to me and a few others to save our lives. Uhm, well it's a bit awkward.  
  
" You see, he's got several fiancees and he's supposed to face some powerful enemies. We'd help, but we don't have the full power he started out with, either. So, uhm, I'm really sorry for disturbing you, Magic Cave-san, but my sister's the one who is supposed to make the wish. She says she's got it all figured out, but she's not here right at the moment."  
  
Kasumi paused but there was still no sign of Nabiki or Ukyou. "Anyway. Ukyou is the only fiancee who doesn't have a powerup yet, and she could really use one if she's going to hang around us. And we've, well, those of us who've shared Ranma's lifeforce have sort of a special bond. It's really not fair to her not to have that.  
  
"So anyway, there's a lot of problems that happened along the way. I mean I really  
really like Ranma, but if he chooses one of us, everyone else will get hurt. I don't really want  
that to happen." Kasumi listened for a few moments but it was completely silent in the cave. "It's too bad I can't just wish that you'd solve these problems."  
  
-----  
  
Somewhere in another dimension, a little black cat who sometimes went by the name  
of Robin Goodfellow was rolling around on the floor, laughing its tail off.  
  
------  
  
"Doctor Akagi, your report?"  
  
"The genetic samples from young Saotome show that he's a New Type, so genetically  
advanced towards perfection that he might as well be another species."  
  
"Hmmm. Maya, take a memo for the PM. Go ahead and approve that marriage law for Nerima, with the condition that genetic samples are needed. Dr. Akagi, we may not be able to clone him, but we CAN arrange for him to have a lot of kids. Children who are genetically superior to the bulk of humanity. Hah! Let's label this the 'Human Enhancement Project' - that'll work."  
  
"As you say, sir." Doctor Akagi turned and walked to the elevator. And if she had a private fantasy about the young man in the report, who was to criticize her for it?  
  
-------  
  
Ranma had one girl under each arm, if one were to look close, one would see that they were actually supporting him as they walked.   
  
Shampoo was giggling like a schoolgirl.  
  
Akane merely smirked. "Oh yeah, Ranma, tell us again how you've got the hang of this chi  
transfer thing again."  
  
"Not my fault." Ranma glanced to where a blushing Ami and Rei were supporting him.  
  
"Yup, just like my sempai," Lita nodded. "Course, you couldn't know we heal fast in our  
Senshi forms and it wasn't necessary for you to do anything."  
  
"Shampoo, why are you glowing?"  
  
"What you mean, Akane? Oh, Akane is glowing!"  
  
"We're all glowing," Amy observed, switching places with Lita so she could use her  
computer to scan. "I'm getting powerful energy spikes from all of us."  
  
"Oh no," said Ranma as he realized why this feeling was familiar.  
  
-----  
  
MUCH Later:  
  
"It's a snow woman!" Sailor Moon dodged the creature's blast. "Waaaahh!"  
  
"Foul creature who perverts, uhm, winter sports, no that's not it."  
  
"Ranchan, stick to the blasting and leave the speeches to others."  
  
Ranma tried again, noting that there were now twenty of the snowwomen appearing. "Uhm,  
evil ski slope rejects, er, oh hell. DRAGON STORM!"  
  
"Told you." Ukyou smiled at Ranma.  
  
"Would you like some cookies?" Kasumi asked Usagi, using a chi wind burst to sweep the   
little piles of snow into nice tidy piles.   
  
=================================  
  
DONE! Oh can't you see it, oh the horror, of Kasumi flying and baking chocolate chip cookies, and oh the terrible horrible story of Ranma getting all the girls.   
  
actually i was planning on having Ukyou get into the cave, make a wish, and all his "fiancees" would meld into one being. Kasumi's niceness, Akane's strength, Shampoo's sex appeal, Nabiki's intelligence, and Ukyou's cute all in one package.  
  
But the idea of Sentai Team Ranma was too much to pass up. Especially with a chi-bonded Amy, Lita, and Rei. Especially as back when this was first written, it hadn't been done a whole lot.  
  
The cause of poor Ranma's suffering? Well, it's cause he's a character in a comedy show.  
  
Dragonbard has stated he's taking over this storyline. Goodluck Dbard! 


End file.
